New Taiwan-Philippines investment pact to include financial sector

2017/12/01 22:07:42

Minister without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中)/CNA file photo

Taipei, Dec. 1 (CNA) A new investment guarantee agreement between Taiwan and the Philippines that could be signed in the near future will broaden the scope of the original pact to include the financial industry, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

The updated agreement includes provisions covering the financial sector, an expansion of the original agreement that only targeted the manufacturing sector when it took effect in 1992.

The new pact is better aligned with the trends of how industries that matter to Taiwan and the Philippines are developing, the source said.

It puts in place mechanisms that make investments more transparent and the treatment of investors fairer, including provisions on how investors can seek government assistance when they run into trouble.

In November, Economic Affairs Minister Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said the two countries had agreed to the content and wording of the agreement and were expecting it to be signed soon.

Angelito Banayo, the Philippines' representative to Taiwan, expressed a similar sentiment in an interview with CNA last month, saying he expected the signing to take place before the end of the year.

This newly revised agreement is one of six re-signings of investment agreements that will take place between Taiwan and six Southeast and South Asian countries --the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and India.

The original investment guarantee agreements were signed with these countries over 20 years ago, which is why new drafts are being negotiated to take into account new economic developments, said Minister without Portfolio John Deng (鄧振中), who also heads the Cabinet's Office of Trade Negotiations.